Clothing eCommerce Store - Need help on how to Proceed

Hello everyone,

I recently started an eCommerce clothing store for women and children apparel named Timilar, I've listed some of the products, while dozens of products are yet to be listed. However, as I move on, I thought it'd be better if I consult from some of the industry experts to guide me on how the eCommerce thing would work better for me. Before I move on to everything, I think I should give a brief information about the background of my company so you people may be able to give me a better and accurate advice.

Background:
I am from Pakistan and there was a small clothing manufacturer around me. The cheap labor with lack of expertise in designing were making some traditional clothing. So I had this idea to make good use of the cheap labour (as one USD is equal to 100 PKR, so the labor comes very cheap, so does the raw material).
What I did was that, I hired a few dress designers and textile industry consultant and asked them on how I can make good use of the labor available. Long story short, they guided the skilled women and they came up with some good products, which were pretty cheap over all. While those products sell fine here, but I want to take it to the next level and sell those products in US, UK, Europe, Australia and other such countries.

The eCommerce Store
I bought timilar.com and started an eCommerce store for the products. And I have in total around a 100 different products at the moment.

Clueless on how to proceed
Here comes my real problem. I am from Pakistan and I am unable to access eBay or Amazon, in other words, I cannot sell my products on these sites, my only option is to sell goods through my own store.

Affiliate
To increase my sales option, I decided to come up with an affiliate program. I am now offering a flat 10% affiliate commission on every sale made. A sale of $150 dress would get you a flat $15.

Wholesale
Secondly, I came up with an idea to somehow reach physical clothing store and act as their clothing supplier and deliver them products at low cost which they can then sell at whatever price they want.

Retail
As for the retail, my site is all new and there is no traffic, so no luck so far.

So I was confused on how to compensate for eBay and amazon thing. Is there any place where I can find someone who already have a clothing and apparel stores on eBay and Amazon and I offer them my products at wholesale rate and they can then sell it and earn their profits in between? Because all I am concerned is to get the sales, with low profit or high profit, I just want the sales to be done.

I am also focusing on the SEO and Social Media, but going white hat, those things takes a lot of time, so I need a sort of way to somehow make a wholesale deal or perhaps find someone to sell the products on eBay and Amazon?

Is there anything I am missing? Please guide me on what I should do now and how to proceed. I am all open to advice and suggestions.

 

opening your site but very slow site for loding. but very awesome design you use good job.

 

Your website has a nice design. For traffic to your site you've go for seo on content marketing, video marketing,infographics. for affiliates some of my suggestions could be

1. Google Adsense
2. Commission Junction
3. Clickbank
4. LinkShare
5. ShareASale
6. Neverblue
7. PeerFly

Hope it is helpful. Good luck

 

The age of domain is very important too. First year is most difficult.

 

You may have to work through too many hoops trying to get into Amazon. The margins are pretty low here even for regular merchants (because of their returns policy and the cut-throat competition) - it is not going to be profitable for you going through a middleman. You can choose two options:

1. Register as a wholesaler and sell your product on B2B sites like Alibaba, TradeIndia, ThomasNet, etc. - this way, you provide the product for your suppliers who sell over these websites (or through their own channels)

2. If you are particular about taking the retail market yourself, invest in social media marketing. This way, you build a following and a brand among these followers. Apparel shopping is often impulsive, so social media strategies should work better here than for other categories.

 

Nice interface and producs and good luck

 

Hi,

Nice design and products. Your website is means with the moden era. It provide new fresh look for the visitors. To get more revenue and more visit + brnad name (Timilar). You need digital growth stragertgy. Get digital marketing. Here is some tips from our end:

Search + Social + Mobile + Disaply = Digital Growth

Built new strategy on :-

Search engine marketing

Social Media Marketing

Youtube Marketing

Google adwords

Combine all in one digital marketing campaign.

Hope this help.

 

You shouldn't forget also about domain name, about the best design and about comfort of your customers. You should understand that your cutomer is a very lazy person, so your sites needs very understandable shopping cart, lot's of different payment ways etc. The best way to get all of these - make your shop on a great cms platform. For example, Magento.

 

Hi asadwahab

I run a 7 Figure business in the children's space www.soyoung.ca. So first off, I applaud your entrepreneurial spirit. It is a marathon, not a sprint so hang in there!

I think your strategy of wholesaling is the right direction. We now have a strong online business but we built the business around a mixture of wholesale, distribution and online. There is a lot of ecommerce hype and forums like this are full of stories of sites with zero traffic and no back up plan. However, as a manufacturer with good margins, you have a lot more options. Here is what I would suggest:

- Focus your products more around a more specific audience - either kids /babies or women, and strengthen the brand around that. I think you should invest more in lifestyle photography for your kids clothes- they look very cute!
- find a designer in the western markets you are targeting who is willing to work with you in developing designs for that market. This is easier said than done, but I think you'll have some legitimacy given the site and products you already have set up. You could position it that you have a line that you would be willing to adapt for them
- try to keep your brand in the mix as you develop. At the end of the day, this will be the main distinction that will keep you from simply being an agent or supplier.

I have more info on my blog www.indiebrandbuilder.com

Hope that helps! Jeremy

 

Yeah the design is very awesome.

 

The cheapest way is Email Marketing, I can offer quality lists shoppers
Who needs Magento EE 2.x or other enterprise open source ecommerce platform, my skype - emaleads

 

hey asadwahab,

you have to focus on inbound marketing activities! inbound refers to marketing activities that bring visitors into your site rather than you chasing prospective clients. you do this with techniques like content marketing, lead management, email and social media marketing. while driving traffic to your site is important, don't forget to focus on those those customers you already have. the easiest and chepest way to do this is through behavioral based email marketing. this is essential for any ecommerce business.

let me know if you have any specific questions. will be glad to help.

- M

 

Email Marketing for what region.

 

Is this store still alive- this simply does not look that good in case your store is temporary not working...

 

CIS & Eastern Europe

 

Agree in 100%- you can care about those who you have already by loyalty programs, discounts, time-limited offers.
It is cheaper to get an order from customers who already trust your store.

 

I am agree the point of above member regards running e-commerce business. I have also eCommerce store name is Designer Lehenga choli Online Shopping in India. Before two years When our website is new then i get my business from mostly Facebook and whatsaap. Within weak i get order from my country. Today also i get maximum business from facebook, google plus, instagram.
In starting level bussiness from site is such a hard work.

 

Thank you! Your advice is very useful. I also want to add that quality photos of the product are the key to business success.

 

Get a module/plugin to export your products to Price comparison sites like Google Shopping, Nextag, PriceGrabber, Shopping.com, Shopzilla. It's of the easiest ways to get some sales.
If you want to approach big distributors or shop owners from around the world, then you might consider displaying your products in a stand-in big Trade fairs like in Italy, Germany or Turkey. It costs a lot to take part and you might need 2-3 times to be present there. Visit one and reconsider your actions if its suitable for you.